Over the past 40 years, Hanna Andersson has built its name on quality, durability and straightforward fun. Now, the childrenswear brand is looking to add a new attribute to that list — cultural touch point — with its ongoing series of trend-forward, often unexpected, brand collaborations. These include names that kids know and love like Bluey, The Grinch and the most recent, debuting today, Mattel’s American Girl, but also brands kids likely have never heard of, such as sustainable bag brand Baggu and a new collection out this month with home goods brand Dusen Dusen.
“We have a long history of partnerships where we’ve done more traditional, licensed partnerships, but about a year ago, we really stepped back and saw this opportunity to rethink how we approached collaborations,” explained Kara Carter, Chief Product Officer at Hanna Andersson in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “It’s always with the kid at the heart, that is the root of everything we do, but we’re really stepping back a little bit and thinking through the lens of mom, too. How do we not only strengthen our engagement with our returning customer who’s so loyal to us, but also expose the brand to a whole new set of moms and customers?”
This strategy is intimately tied to Hanna Andersson’s loyalty program — introduced two years ago and set to hit the 1 million-member mark by the end of this year. One of the big perks of the program is early access to these collaborations, and with the new American Girl collection the company is taking things a step further, making the line available exclusively to Hanna Rewards members. (The program is free to join, so American Girl fans still have a chance to get in on the action.)
Collaboration Must-Have: An Authentic Connection
Whether the collaboration is with a well-known, multigenerational brand like American Girl or a newer design-forward label like Dusen Dusen, Carter said the most important thing is that the partnership reflects “two brands coming together authentically, where there’s so much synergy, but maybe not synergy in our consumer bases quite yet.
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“We’ve always admired Ellen Van Dusen and the Dusen Dusen brand from an aesthetic standpoint, and at Hanna we’re all about color and happiness and print,” Carter added. “But [Dusen Dusen] didn’t have kids’ apparel; it’s a home brand. I still remember cold calling her because I loved her robes, and then it came out that she was a fan of Hanna, so it felt like a very authentic collaboration. Baggu was very similar — a very design-savvy, print-driven collaboration.”
And even with brands that are more familiar to kids, collections still take a form that parents will find palatable. “I do think on the more traditional collaborations, people also come to us because they know our quality,” said Carter. “They know that ‘Hanna-Me-Down’ quality, it’s a product that’s going to last longer, especially if the kid wants to wear it every night. The tricky part is how do you blend an aesthetic or a character that’s very well-known with Hanna? We have amazing designers who work really closely with our partners to make sure it still feels like Hanna and it’s something that you can’t get anywhere else.”
American Girl Collab Gives Rewards Members Access to Multigenerational Joy
This is evidenced in the new American Girl holiday line, which includes pajamas for mom, kids and of course, American Girl dolls. Far from a logo-slapping exercise, the collection instead offers a subtle interpretation of the brand that relies on color and familiar iconography. “The print that we put on the pajamas is actually one of the more iconic holiday prints that we’ve done in the past, and we recreated it with their colors and the iconic American Girl stars on the tree, so it really is a reflection of a true collaboration in the artwork, too,” said Carter.
It also helps that many of the brands that Hanna chooses to work with are multi-generational; today’s parents also grew up with The Grinch and American Girl (in fact, American’s Girl’s newest doll is actually presented as the great-great-granddaughter of one of the brand’s original characters, Samantha). “There is so much synergy with legacy brands like Hanna and American Girl, the nostalgia that comes with what it meant to you and also passing that down to the next generation,” said Carter.
